Friday, February 13, 2009

If we want to achieve our goals, we cannot do it without our own personal development. If we don’t work on improving ourselves or if we stop working on ourselves, we greatly reduce our chances of being successful in fulfilling our dreams. Whether it is our childhood beliefs or our fears about the future, the truth is they all work as barriers in the process to achieve our goals. So how does personal development help us achieve our goals?

Personal development can help us achieve our goals in many ways. Very simply put, the steps required in personal development are the same steps that are required to achieve our goals. What are these steps you may ask? Here are the steps that are essential for our own personal development and that can help us achieve our goals:

Personal Development requires us to learn from our past hurts and disappointments
No personal development program can be complete without looking at our past. And our past can act as a huge barrier in helping us achieve our goals. We have to look at our past to grow as an individual and as a member of the human society.

Most of us believe that the past should be forgotten and we should move on with our lives. But there is a very thin line between resolving our past and suppressing our past. When we ignore or suppress our past, we keep repeating our mistakes again and again.

When we learn from our past, we minimize the chances of making the same mistake again. This is what is called personal development. Besides this how many times do we end up asking ourselves, “Why does it keep happening to me?” How about asking ourselves, “Is my past controlling me because I haven’t learnt from it?”

Personal Development requires us to identify our fears and doubts about the future
The future can be scary for many of us. If we are fearful about the future, we cannot grow as humans and we cannot even think about achieving our goals. We often have a lot of “what if” questions in our minds which stop us from living our life to the fullest. It stops us from going after our dreams.

Often these fears and doubts are based on our past experiences, sometimes even way back when we were young kids. So we can’t really separate our future from our past. When we look at our fears and doubts about our future, we might just again have to go back into our past. We will need to work on the fears that are limiting ourselves and stopping us from going after our goals.

Personal Development requires us to live in the present
We may be the result of our past experiences and beliefs. But as we acknowledge the influence of the past, we need to live the present moment in the best way possible. After all, we don’t want to miss a great opportunity (which occurs in the present) and regret it two days later (another past experience which will bring us down).

So as we resolve our past, we need to focus on the present. When we work at resolving our past and accepting our fears about the future, we are aiming to achieve our goals. But the fact remains. Goals are achieved in the present. Not in the past and not in the future.

Personal Development requires us to change our daily lifestyle
An important step in personal development is to change the way we are living right now. Changing our lifestyle does not mean changing our jobs or changing our relationships. It just means that there are certain healthy practices and behaviors that can help in our own personal development.

At the same time, there are certain other practices and behaviors that can hamper us from improving ourselves. If we want to achieve our goals, we need to practice good habits and give up the really bad ones. This is where personal development helps us.

Personal Development requires us to find our life’s purpose
We cannot achieve our goals if we don’t know what they are. We learn about our goals through knowing our dreams and finding our life’s purpose. Personal development requires us to find our life’s purpose. But how do we do that?

We all have some awareness about our dreams and our purpose. It’s that one thing which seems to change the way we are feeling, the way we are thinking. It’s that one thing that suddenly changes the way we talk and the way we interact with others. It’s that one thing which suddenly fills us with confidence and a satisfaction which we never experience at our day-to-day jobs. So ask yourself what is it?

Personal Development requires us to find our strengths and weaknesses
No one can aim at achieving goals without knowing their strengths and weaknesses. Personal development helps us do that. It is very important to know our strengths and weaknesses if we want to find out what the purpose of our life is.

Our life’s purpose is something which is a combination of our strengths and how they make us feel. Once we do know our life’s purpose, we need to be fully aware of our strengths and our weaknesses while setting realistic goals.

Personal development requires us to begin writing
Yes, writing is indeed important. Whether you prefer writing with a pen and paper or typing it into your computer, you should give words to your thoughts and feelings. Writing helps you identify those past influences, your fears about the future, your strengths and your weaknesses, your dreams and your goals, your likes and your dislikes, your friends and your foes. And the list just goes on and on. Writing helps in personal development. Writing helps in clarifying your goals.

Personal development requires us to turn our dreams into realistic goals
Once we identify our dreams, we need to turn them into realistic goals. Our dreams will always live in our memories, if we don’t perform a reality check and take some realistic steps to turn them into reality. Dreams are fantasy. Goals are realistic. Personal development helps us turn our dreams into achievable goals.

Personal Development requires us to reward ourselves for accomplishing our small goals
Rewards are very important for every individual. Personal development requires us to celebrate our accomplishments. As we move from one small goal to another, we should also learn to celebrate our accomplishments. That’s what makes us feel good about ourselves, builds our confidence in our abilities, and gives us the much needed strength to get on with achieving the next goal.

Personal Development requires us to analyze and reanalyze our beliefs, behaviors and actions
Personal development never stops. Our goals never end. Both are and need to be a constant process. We should keep on learning and growing. We should keep on setting new goals for ourselves. It’s important to keep up-to-date with the world, technology and even our beliefs.

What may have been true a few years back may not work two years down the line. So it’s important to keep analyzing your goals, your beliefs and change them if necessary. After all, change is human. And change is the only thing that is constant.

So, personal development does indeed help us achieve our goals. As we grow and improve and develop as an individual, our goals become much more realistic and clear and easier to achieve.